Micología Aplicada International

ISSN: 1534-2581
dcarrera@colpos.mx
Colegio de Postgraduados
México

Kurtzman, Jr., R. H.
Ventilation for mushroom cultivation: the importance of the needs of mushrooms and of the gas laws
Micología Aplicada International, vol. 22, núm. 2, julio, 2010, pp. 63-78
Colegio de Postgraduados
Puebla, México

Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=68514346003

How to cite
Complete issue
Scientific Information System
More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal
Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative
 Ventilation
Micologia Aplicada International
and, mushrooms
22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
63
© 2010, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
www.micaplint.com

Review

Ventilation for mushroom cultivation: the

importance of the needs of mushrooms and
of the gas laws

R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.

Micologia Aplicada International, 445 Vassar Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708, U.S.A.

E-mail: kurtzmanr@earthlink.net

Accepted for publication May 28, 2010

ABSTRACT

Ventilation depends on physics, chemistry and especially the biological needs of the
organism that is being provided for. The history of ventilation is about as long as the
history of man. However, unlike many other things that make us more comfortable
and the organisms we husband more productive, its application is often inadequately
considered. Often we believe that others have already considered all factors and we
need only to follow what they have done. Often we have copied more of their mistakes
than of their careful thoughts. Also, most designers of ventilation systems are not
sufficiently proficient in all three of the necessary sciences and associated technologies.
This review is an attempt to look at all of the areas and discover ways in which design
parameters for mushroom growing can be improved. Emphasis is not on how much
air is moved, but on the way nature moves it and how nature can be aided to grow
mushrooms with a minimum of air movement.

Key words: Gas densities, carbon dioxide, water vapor, HVAC, mushroom
metabolism.

Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

64 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
INTRODUCTION
For most reviews it is only necessary to cite
publications on the subject and tell what
they found from their research. Sometimes,
several publications will disagree and then
there may be need to give some discus-
sion on why they disagree. However, heat-
ing and ventilation are subjects that have
been studied for more than 250 years and
have been practiced from prehistoric peri-
ods. Even primitive air conditioning has a
long history. Ventilation in general, but es-
pecially for mushrooms, involves physics,
chemistry and biology, but most modern
physicists, chemists and biologists general-
ly have little interest beyond personal com-
fort. While the laws of chemistry and phys-
ics do not change, various organisms have
different needs and those needs do change
the application and even the relative impor-
tance of some chemical and physical laws.
Equally important are the effects of other
conditions. Ventilation for other purposes
may have much in common, but as we will
see, they also have many contrasting dif-
ferences. Things that make perfect sense
for the environment of one organism may
make no sense in ventilating for another.
Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals
and their ventilation needs are unlike those
of plants, animals and humans. While one
can find books on ventilation, there is very
little on the needs of mushrooms. Because
of the sparse research and the need to con-
sider mushrooms more adequately, this
may be more a pedantic review than a typi-
cal scientific review.
Although ventilation often seems sim-
ple, its many sides suggest that we must
keep the requirements of mushrooms or
other organisms in mind. At the same time
it is useful to learn about the ventilation
used for other organisms and to think why
the ideas used may or may not be useful for
mushrooms.
A review of publications on any subject,
must, in essence, be a history of the sub-
ject. The first question the author of every
review must answer is, how far back must I
go? Or even better, what can we learn from
things done years ago. Often, we learn that
many questions were answered long ago
and have been ignored by more recent re-
searchers. I have decided to look for the
oldest information I can find. However,
when possible I looked for others who had
already written about the very old material.
Even while doing that, I have read and in-
cluded writing of more than 250 years ago.
While one can wisely doubt the accura-
cy of things found only on the internet, it
is difficult to find references to many top-
ics by searching abstract journals and other
more reliable sources. Many of those used
are from institutions that are generally con-
sidered reliable and to have some particu-
lar expertize. In a few cases, the internet
site is simply the source of a copy of an
original document or of a transcription of
such a document.
Ventilation is one of the most impor-
tant parts of the physical environment, but
living things generally want the ventilat-
ing air to be tempered. Temperature is the
primary attribute that must be regulated.
Ventilating and the process of temper-
ing the air is now generally referred to as
HVAC, the initial letters of the functions,
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.
Penn State tells us that coal was first used
for heating in the first century A.D., but did
not become popular for many centuries, or
about the end of the 17th century21. Its slow
rise to popularity is undoubtedly one of the
most fortunate facts of history. In a very
real way, coal is the antithesis of ventila-
tion. Coal produces more carbon dioxide
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
 Ventilation and mushrooms 65

than other fuels with the exception of char- by his foot or by rocking while sitting in his
coal and more other poisons per unit of chair11 (Fig. 1). He and Prof. John Hadley
heat than any other fuel5. of Cambridge University experimented
Air conditioning is much more recent. with evaporating diethyl ether until their
According to the Penn State web site, thermometer read –14 C (+7 F)27. In a let-
Willis Carrier built the first one in 190221. ter, written in 1758 Franklin recognized
However, they seem to be referring only to that evaporative cooling had long been
gas compressor units. In the May 16, 1903, used to keep water cool in “Indostan”7.
Scientific American had an article on a de- Another type of air-conditioning has
vice using ice and salt to cool air, it was been used extensively, but in very limited
designed by Willis L. Moore, Chief, U.S. places: Artesian aquifers – water from very
Weather Bureau. The cooled air moved out deep in the ground, is often reliably very
of the bottom of the device.
While Carrier was very early to use a
compressor to air condition, some doubt of
who was first is left by a chronology at the
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-Conditioning Engineers
(ASHRAE) web site1. Michael Faraday
invented the gas-compressor refrigeration
principal in 182410. Again, the ASHRAE
seems to disagree. Apparently the term, “air
conditioning” and an invention for cooling
air by water evaporation was the work of
Stuart Cramer of South Carolina in 1906.
Although they cite Cramer for coining the
word, the ASHRAE chronology uses the
term for many earlier installations1,10. The
use of ice to cool air was rather the inven-
tion, in 1842, of John Gorrie, a Florida phy-
sician2,13,25. It has become common to con-
sider cooling based on the evaporation of
water as evaporative coolers, but in fact, al-
most all air conditioning depends on evap-
oration. In compressor systems, a “fixed”
gas is compressed into a liquid, cooled to
about ambient, then when it evaporates it
cools its surroundings26. When it is again
compressed, the heat energy it picked up
while evaporating is concentrated and once Fig. 1. Two working models of Benjamin
again it is dissipated to the surroundings as Franklin’s fan-chair. Just tap your foot and the
it again becomes a liquid. board overhead fans you. These are part of a
Benjamin Franklin was interested in traveling exhibit of the Benjamin Franklin
keeping cool and invented a fan propelled Tercentenary.

Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

66 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.

cold. Such water can be pumped through aggerated in the construction of the caba-
heat exchangers with air blown over the nas in Gorongosa National Park in tropi-
exchangers. There is such an aquifer under cal Mozambique (Fig. 2). As the outdoor
the city of Minneapolis. Apparently, one of temperature cools in the evening, the air
the first to use it for air-conditioning was in the upper area is much warmer than the
the State Theater in Minneapolis19. The surrounding air, so it moves out and the
theater was completed in 1921 and had a evening air moves in quickly. Although the
255 meter deep well that provided cold wa- cabanas are also equipped with mechanical
ter. Although not recognized by ASHRAE, air-conditioning, it is generally unneeded.
it would appear to have been the first prac-
tical air conditioning in a public building.
Soon large stores and some office build- Other Industries with Useful
ings drilled their own wells. The practice Histories
continued into the 1950s, but early in the
1960s it was recognized that the practice Apparently the earliest indication of man
was depleting a valuable resource and the making provisions for ventilation were in
practice was ended. mines. Mining has a long history of need
Although the second letter of HVAC, for ventilation, so it is reasonable to look
“V”, stands for “ventilation,” when one there. Even more so, because mushrooms
looks up HVAC history on the internet, one have been cultivated in mines, caves and
finds information on heating and air con- other underground places. We are told that,
ditioning, but hardly a mention of ventila- “between 4000 and 1200 BC, European
tion. When ventilation history is searched, miners... built brushwood fires at the work-
machines for maintaining human breathing ing faces... However, those Neolithic min-
are at the top of the list; few entries deal ers could hardly have failed to observe
with building ventilation and they are scat-
tered towards the end of the list.
Travelers often learn of ancient tech-
nology: “Haeinsa on Mt. Gayasan, where
a collection of more than 80,000 wood-
blocks engraved with Buddhist scriptures
is kept in a naturally cooled and controlled
environment. The building, built in 1488,
was designed with an adjustable ventila-
tion system to prevent deterioration of the
books”4.
One simple way to cool is to use very
heavy construction with very high ceil-
ings and a good opening at the top and an-
other at the bottom. The moist hot air will
gather at the top and as it leaves, pull in Fig. 2. A cabana at Gorangoza National Park,
cooler air at the bottom. Such structures Mozambique. Walls are thick concrete the roof
made with mud and thatch are used by is true thatch and is also the ceiling. Note that the
natives in Africa, but the design was ex- peak is built to allow the hot moist air to escape.

Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78


the currents of air induced by the fire”. As
early as 600 BC, Greek silver mines had at
least two airways, serving each major area.
There is evidence that one airway carried
fresh air from the surface and the other
the exhaust air. Pliny (23-79 AD) told that
slaves used palm fronds to move the air18.
The history of mining ventilation is
“full of lost discoveries and rediscover-
ies, excitement and despair, achievement
and tragedy”18. The history of ventilation
in mushroom houses may be too short to
say the same. Yet, if we look at mushroom
house ventilation as dependent on the les-
sons learned in mines, the same statement
seems to apply. McPherson names dust,
gas emissions, heat, humidity, fire, explo-
sions and radiation as the hazards that ven-
tilation must address18. The last three have
generally not been a consideration in venti-
lation for mushroom cultivation. However,
fire has occurred, especially in composting,
radon can be a problem that ventilation can
handle in almost any location below grade,
even a home cellar. We would not expect
explosive gas in mushroom growing, but
it can happen if mines or caves are used
for cultivation. Dust is another fuel for
explosions. It may be difficult to think of
spores as dust, but most domestic and out-
side dust includes spores. It may also be
difficult to think of anything of a biological
nature as being an explosive, but the dust
in flour mills has often exploded. Until late
in the 19th century flour mills were nor-
mally small, but in 1874, C. C. Washburn
built his original “A” mill with a capac-
ity of 3000 barrels of flour per day, four
years later, it exploded killing 18 workers
and scattering debris over several square
miles6,20,23. Fortunately, it happened at 7:20
PM after most workers had gone home.
The mill was totally leveled, two neighbor-
ing mills were completely destroyed, three
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 67
more gutted by fire and a number of other
buildings were damaged. A new mill was
built to replace it. Washburn’s company
eventually became General Mills and they
operated the new “A” mill until 1965. The
mill suffered a number of calamities, but
today it is an unusual museum called the
Mill City Museum. Some of the original
ventilation equipment, including cyclone
separators used to collect flour dust have
been preserved, but are not used (Fig.
3). Modern ventilation has reduced the
number and severity of flour dust explo-
sions, but they still occur occasionally. The
reduction in those problems was in large
part the result of a rare occurrence for 1874
and even for today; the coroners court used
scientific experiments to determine that the
cause was dust and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture soon propagated the informa-
tion to other millers6,20. Small flour explo-
sions have been used to teach the danger
to flour mill workers and also to entertain
museum patrons (Fig. 4).
Fig. 3. A cyclone separator atop Washburn/
General Mills, Mill A/Mill City Museum. The
unit removed dust from the mill ventilating sys-
tem. An important protection from explosions.
68 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
Fig. 4. A flour dust explosion demonstration.
The top of the building had been tightly covered
with two layers of newspaper. The actual explo-
sion blew the paper away and the flames seen
here follow immediately, but last only a fraction
of a second. The building is about 40 cm tall.
The author is not aware of any explo-
sions in mushroom houses, but there are
verbal reports of spores filling growing
rooms like a heavy fog. Such conditions
represent poor management, a waste of
food, endangering workers’ health, and
probably a predisposition to explosions.
The numerous fires in composting areas,
have been attributed to self-heating, result-
ing in spontaneous combustion. They may
now be less common, because forced ven-
tilation is used in tunnel composting. Yet
we might expect an increase in the fires in
growing buildings. It is now common to
grow mushrooms in compressed blocks of
compost (Fig. 5). The Dutch and Italians
have promoted similar lightly composted
or un-composted blocks for Pleurotus.
Such blocks will self-heat and especially
if the ventilation system fails, they may
someday spontaneously ignite. In addition
to regulating gases, ventilation is very im-
portant in regulating temperatures.
Medical history may also shed some
light on the broad subject of ventilation:
“The hospitals of the later Middle Ages
were grand affairs which were specifical-
ly built to be hospitals. The Hotel-Dieu in
Paris had regular nurses (nuns), only 2 peo-
ple per bed, good ventilation (for the time),
and good waste disposal. This was the epit-
ome of the medieval hospital indeed!”17.
When the black-death struck in 1354,
ventilation seemed to have played a part:
“We can take heart in some of the human
caring that was present. The nuns at Hotel-
Dieu stayed with the sick until the staff
was completely changed several times.
The doctors thought a person’s gaze or the
stench of the disease could transmit it, and
so covered themselves with thick clothing
and held cloth to their noses. Some wore
elaborate masks shaped like birds’ heads
which had holders for burning incense in
the beaks”18.
We do not know when the Italians first
called the deadly disease, “mal’aria,”
thinking it was from poisonous vapors,
but in 1740 Horace Walpole introduced
the word to English and was shortened to
malaria early in the 20th century12. Today
we know it is transmitted by mosquitoes.
While it is not the air, as such, the mos-
Fig. 5. Spawned, Agaricus compost blocks
ready to be moved to growing shelves.
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

quitoes need the air to fly from and to their
victims. Maybe with tongue-in-cheek, we
should call mycophageous flies, “mush-
room malaria”. Screens and nets are good
control methods for both mosquitoes car-
rying malaria and flies that eat mushrooms.
Recently, Google has “reprinted” Reid,
Ventilation in American Dwellings (1858)
on-line and BiblioLife has published a
paper copy22. Considering that it is 150
years old, it expresses a great depth of
understanding and practical suggestions.
Practical mechanical ventilating equip-
ment was not yet available, so Reid de-
scribes ways to use fire to ventilate. He is
very concerned with the foul air causing
malaria and the like. Science has allowed
us to find a little humor in the belief that
foul smelling air causes diseases, but it
should not lessen our respect for the out-
standing contributions to ventilation.
Reid did acquire considerable acclaim
in his own time, he was commissioned
to design new ventilation for the British
Parliament. In support of his commission,
a Dr. Birkbeck spoke to a committee of
the British Parliament in 1835 and stated,
“I have never seen a room ventilated, with
strict reference to the whole purpose of
ventilation ...” Then more particularly of
the Houses of Parliament: “The smother-
ing system adopted at present is terrible; I
am sure, I for one, would not endure it for
the service of the public”9. While mush-
rooms have no feelings, their physiology
does react to atmospheric conditions and
they may not endure the atmosphere in
some mushroom houses.
“There is another point that requires
much attention, and without which no ad-
justment for ventilation can be expected to
give any satisfaction, and that is a reasona-
ble view of all the ventilation may and may
not be expected to accomplish”22. D. B.
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 69
Reid, M.D., wrote those words in 1858 in
his classic book, Ventilation in American
Dwellings. That statement and many oth-
ers are as true today as they were in 1858.
The book is worth reading if only to ap-
preciate how far medicine has come since
that day and how little ventilation practices
have improved. In 1858, they had need for
ventilation that is now of little importance.
Artificial lighting was always supplied by
fire, e.g., gas lamps, candles, etc., so ordi-
nary rooms always needed ventilation to
remove carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide
and other gases produced in combustion.
The removal of carbon dioxide from are-
as where there is considerable respiration
is just as important now as it was then.
However, if it will be formed near room
temperature, its immediate physical behav-
ior will be quite different from hot carbon
dioxide formed by fire.
Ventilation needed by farm animals dif-
fers somewhat from provisions needed for
humans and quite greatly from the needs of
mushrooms. Harms8 has written a book de-
tailing the ventilation needed in buildings
for housing farm animals. Farm animals are
often kept in open shelters when outdoor
temperatures are warm. However, in cold
weather it is more common to keep them
in closed, unheated buildings. Their own
body heat is held in the building, so they
are more comfortable. However, without
some provision for ventilation the mois-
ture from their respiration and evaporation
from the surfaces of their bodies, urine and
manure can easily be a problem. The prob-
lems and the solutions are discussed and
finally reduced to mathematical formulas.
The book is well written with generally
clear descriptions. It seems a good source
of information to be used for mushroom
growers, but only by those with a clear
understanding of the differences between
70 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
animals and mushrooms and only with a
clear understanding of the needs of mush-
rooms. Although it contains much useful
information, both growing conditions and
the needs of mushrooms are very differ-
ent. Animals produce considerable heat,
so the carbon dioxide that they produce is
warmer than the general temperature of the
building. As a result, the warm carbon di-
oxide is close to the density of the ambient
air. Furthermore, animals forcefully expel
their respiratory carbon dioxide, causing
turbulence, which immediately mixes it
into ambient air. Their heat and action is
unlike the passive emission of carbon di-
oxide by mushrooms. The combination
of breathing, body heat, the movement of
bodies, tails and wings all provide for mix-
ing of the gasses. No similar mixing occurs
in mushroom houses. As we will see, there
are also other important differences. While
growing mushrooms do produce some
metabolic heat, it is generally, although
not necessarily, negligible compared to the
heat produced by farm animals.
Apparently Harms misunderstands farm
animal metabolism and treats carbon di-
oxide as of little importance in ventilating
animals. It is true that hydrogen sulfide,
ammonia and some other gasses from
feces and urine are very unpleasant and
can even be poisonous. Also, condensing
water can be uncomfortable and cause the
building to rot. However, if those were the
only needs, as he suggests, a good system
to remove solid and liquid wastes and con-
trolled condensation with the water form-
ing on a bare metal section of roof that
drained away from the animals would be
wiser than forced ventilation during cold
weather. Mechanically powered methods
for removing animal wastes in dairy barns
have existed for about 70 years and Harms
describes a method for pigs. Those wastes
must be removed, and sooner is better. In
his defense, if one uses sufficient ventila-
tion to take care of the problems of waste
and moisture, carbon dioxide will be taken
care of.
Carbon dioxide is of the greatest im-
portance in ventilating mushroom houses.
While high humidity is needed for mush-
rooms, it is very undesirable for animals.
In order to maintain a constant high hu-
midity, the temperature must be closely
controlled for mushrooms, but animals
have a relatively wide comfort range. With
the many differences, knowledge of good
ventilation for animals is still of value for
mushrooms, but only for the general prin-
cipals and equipment for moving and to a
lesser degree, controlling air temperature.
That would include, fans, ducts (“poly-
tubes”), controls, heating and cooling.
Unfortunately, while he does suggest that
his information is being out-dated by mod-
ern electronics, Harms treatment of con-
trols is at best confusing.
Civil and agricultural engineers like to
talk about slug-flow and ventilation by
dilution or mixing. However, physicists
generally speak of streamline or laminar
flow and turbulent flow. Slug-flow is the
concept that a fluid (liquid or gas) can be
moved as a coherent mass, through a pipe
or from one side of a room to the other. It
assumes that conditions are such that there
is no turbulence and it neglects friction. On
the other hand, streamline or laminar flow
assumes that there will be friction at the
walls or other parallel stationary objects
and that the fluid closest to the wall will
move more slowly and that furthest from
the stationary objects will move at the
fastest speed. It also assumes that fluid at
any given spot will continue to move at the
same speed as long as the force on the fluid
and the resistance to flow remains constant.
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

Turbulent, dilution and mixing are really
just different aspects of the same concept.
It is reasonable to expect a fluid to pass
down a smooth pipe as laminar flow and
laminar flow may approach slug flow in
large pipes or other smooth conduits with
little friction or other resistance. If we could
send an even flow of air through a simple,
empty room, we might also get laminar
flow however, the reason we want to move
the air through our room is to ventilate
the organisms occupying the room. No
matter what organisms, they, their food or
substrate, objects used to hold them in place
and possibly structural supports for the
building, will cause turbulence, so laminar
flow is not possible. Even the breath of
animals will cause turbulence. However,
mushrooms do not move about and they
do not breath forcefully. The result is that
little turbulence is caused by mushrooms
compared to animals.
Mushroom houses have stationary ob-
jects that cause turbulence. Since moving
objects, including various maintenance
and picking activities, will occupy a small
percentage of the total growing-ventilation
time, turbulent mixing will be primarily in
the immediate area of objects and particu-
larly where they terminate, for example,
the edges of shelves and around bags. The
result of all of this is that while air turbu-
lence occurs in mushroom houses, the tur-
bulence is not generally adequate to mix
the air well enough to result in air that is
the same in all parts of the room. The gas
laws, the locations of substrate, air ingress
and air egress all have a strong influence
on the composition of the air. However,
a few houses may have recirculating fans
that make the air nearly homogeneous.
Assemblies of humans can cause envi-
ronments to be similar to those with farm
animals, however, in most cases there will
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 71
be supplemental heating or cooling, in ad-
dition to body heat. The additional heat
will generally keep the temperature above
the dew point, so less condensation will
occur. Yet it is not unusual for condensa-
tion to occur on windows, cold walls and
ceilings. The problems of condensation in
animal barns are well handled by Harms
and most apply, at least in part, to mush-
room houses and buildings occupied by
humans as well as those occupied by farm
animals. However, unlike buildings for hu-
mans and animals, high relative humidity
is required for mushrooms. Condensation
in mushroom houses, in addition to damag-
ing the building, may occur directly on, or
drip on mushrooms and result in damage.
Generally it will result in a decrease in rel-
ative humidity and except for condensate
that lands on the mushrooms, it may cause
drying of mushrooms. Both condensed liq-
uid water on the mushrooms and drying
can be detrimental to the mushrooms. That
means we must have greater control over
humidity and therefore, over temperature
in mushroom houses.
Nature must provide ventilation for
naturally occurring organisms. We are all
familiar with breathing by mammals, and
most mammals need ventilation for con-
trolling temperature, humidity and other
aspects of comfort in addition to breathing.
Furthermore, many organisms do not have
the ability to move air. Mushrooms have
considerable need for ventilation; yet the
ventilation provided by nature is not im-
mediately obvious to the casual observer.
Mushrooms and the Factors
of Importance to them
The information above is about general
ventilation, heating and cooling methods.
72 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
Although there are hints that mushrooms
have different needs and that methods
used by others may not be appropriate
for mushrooms, no specific information
is given. In order to be of value, specific
information is required.
The careful observation of nature can
tell us many things about the needs of
mushrooms, as well as the needs of other
wild organisms. Such observations have
been made and reported. Like most living
things all mushroom mycelia requires three
things: water, oxygen and substrate (food).
For parasitic and mycorrhizal species, the
substrate may be a living host. It may also
be a dead tree or other large piece of wood
for many species. However, for many
other species the substrate will be leaves,
animal manure or other debris. Rain will
carry such debris to a depression or other
low point, normally the debris will remain
and the water will seep into the earth or
evaporate, but the depression will remain
moist for longer than its surroundings. It
would seem then, that the logical place to
find mushrooms would be in depressions.
Yet, mushrooms that do well on small de-
bris, parasitic and mycorrhizal species are
more generally found on slopes, including
hillsides and even road cuts. Such loca-
tions are not very conducive to substrate
accumulation and will not accumulate wa-
ter, but they may be a place where seeping
water surfaces.
The location of wild mushrooms is of
importance to both mycologist and amateur
mushroom hunters. Knowledge of natural
habitats can usually be used by mushroom
growers and mushroom cultivation scien-
tists to optimize their growing conditions.
So, we can ask, what does their location in
nature tell us about their need for ventila-
tion? Certainly the quantity of oxygen var-
ies little from depression to slope and as
mentioned water and substrate would seem
to be less.
Kurtzman14 has described a number of
observations. He noticed that mushrooms
seem to defy their natural needs. Fig. 6
shows mushrooms growing on slopes. Fig.
7 shows mushrooms growing above the
ground on wood substrates. Fig. 8 shows
them in depressions in a windy area. All
of those conditions have some problems
in collecting and keeping water. Slopes
have difficulty holding much substrate. All
places shown in the figures, would have
plenty of oxygen. However, while water,
oxygen and substrate are required, most
mushrooms also must have an atmosphere
that is low in carbon dioxide. Like water
and particulate debris, carbon dioxide also
accumulates in depressions. The gas laws
tell us that carbon dioxide is denser than
other common atmospheric gases. In part
it states that one formula weight of gas oc-
cupies 22.4 liters at standard temperature
and pressure. The formula weight of ni-
trogen is 28, of oxygen, 32, while carbon
dioxide is 44. Thus, carbon dioxide is 57%
more dense than nitrogen and 37.5% more
dense than oxygen. While the gas laws are
based on standard temperature and pres-
sure, mushroom houses will rarely have
those conditions. At other temperatures
and pressures those densities are inaccu-
rate, but since both the temperature and
pressure of all the gasses will be nearly
homogeneous in a given house at a given
time the relative densities will be as the gas
laws predict. Another property of gases is
that they dissolve one another. However,
sugar dissolves in water (coffee, tea, etc.),
but when sugar is put into water it settles
to the bottom; if it is not stirred, some will
dissolve, but even most of the dissolved
sugar (syrup) remains in the bottom. When
we drink to the bottom of our unstirred cof-
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

Fig. 6. Mushrooms on slopes. The slope allows the carbon dioxide to flow away14.
fee cup the sugar and maybe syrup is still
there. The same is true of CO2 added to air;
it also settles to the bottom.
Another observation is that when the
air is dry, mushrooms dry out more quick-
ly than most other terrestrial organisms.
Microscopic examination tells us that un-
like those organisms that dry more slowly,
mushrooms have neither skin nor cuticle.
Excluding the basidia and spores, the sur-
face cells are essentially the same as the in-
ternal cells. If we did not know that mush-
rooms dried easily, the microscopic exami-
nation would suggest that the surface cells
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 73
have the same needs as the internal cells.
The internal cells are surrounded by other
cells containing considerable water. The
only thing we can do to provide moisture to
the surface cells is to provide high humid-
ity in the air. A formal description of high
humidity is high water vapor pressure.
Water is a strange substance. In general
its behavior is different from that predicted
by its chemical formula, H2O. However,
water vapor does behave essentially as
predicted. That is, the formula weight of
water is 18, so water vapor has the low-
est density of any of the common gasses in
74 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
Fig. 7. Mushrooms on wood in nature, the wood holds the mushrooms above the ground and allows
carbon dioxide to flow away14.
air. Nitrogen is 56% more dense than wa-
ter vapor and carbon dioxide is 144% more
dense than water vapor. Thus, water vapor
will tend to concentrate near the ceiling
of our mushroom house. That fact seems
contrary to our observation. But we must
remember that while we see water and ice,
we do not see water vapor. We perceive
that the air in places near the earth and es-
pecially those below the earth are generally
more humid than those well above ground.
However, places near or below the earth
are generally cooler and cool air is able to
hold less water vapor than warm air. Our
perception depends more on the ability of
the air to hold the moisture (the relative hu-
midity) than on the total amount of water
vapor in the air (absolute humidity). In ad-
dition, evaporation is more likely to be oc-
curring from the earth, and the water vapor
becomes diluted as it rises in dryer air.
So we want to remove the carbon diox-
ide and keep the water vapor. That is at
once more difficult and easier than many
understand. Unless considerable effort is
made to stir the air, in order to remove the
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

A the air is leaving the room. With gravity
B Yet there is a great danger in over gener-
C mushroom genera, e.g., Pleurotus and
Fig. 8. A: The Kayrakkum reservoir, east of
Khujand, Tajikistan. B-C: Coprinus growing in
a ditch on the north edge of the reservoir. The
moist wind from the reservoir blows carbon di-
oxide away, and provides the needed humidity.
Pleurotus was also found, but was desiccated14.
dense (heavy) carbon dioxide, the air must
leave the room below the lowest growing
area. With a ventilation system that uses
fans only to blow air into the room, the
exit plenum must be near the floor. The im-
portance of the location of the air exit can
be seen in rooms where the air is removed
far above the floor with a resulting loss
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 75
in mushroom yield on the lower shelves
(Fig. 9). If gravity is the only force avail-
able, there must be an exit at floor level.
In order to keep moisture in the room, it
is wise to keep the floor wet at all times.
Unfortunately, that means that the primary
source of water will be very near where
ventilation, the loss of water vapor will
be relatively small because the air will not
move fast. However, with fans, the air with
water vapor from the floor will leave more
quickly, but water vapor can be added to
incoming air and it will be easier to control
the temperature. Controlled temperature is
the most important factor in controlling the
water vapor in the air.
alizing. Condensation of water is bad in al-
most any building and for all mushrooms,
but the optimal humidity varies some with
species. Once again, nature gives us good
hints. Members of the genus Agaricus in
the wild are generally found in open plac-
es. They must be able to stand some direct
sun and dry winds. Most other cultivated
Lentinula, in nature, are generally found in
forests. The forest provides considerable
protection from both wind and sun, so we
can expect them to have a greater need for
high humidity. Also, Agaricus is generally
cultivated on a horizontal bed of compost
with casing, while most other mushrooms
are cultivated on vertical surfaces of fresh
substrate, often through holes cut in plas-
tic. Barber has pointed out that the micro-
environment is very important and com-
plex in Agaricus cultivation3. He discusses
the gradients of water vapor, CO2 and heat.
In general, limited heat is created by the
mushrooms, but that heat added to the heat
from the compost raises the overall tem-
perature which increases the metabolism
76 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
Fig. 9. Looking down on Agaricus pins in a
room with the ventilating exit air duct about
half-way between the floor and ceiling. Notice
more pins are visible on the upper shelves and
the number decrease in lower shelves.
of all organisms in the area, which increas-
es the heat, which in turn increases the me-
tabolism so it can “spiral” out of control
until the heat damages the organisms, and
at worst, causes a fire.
When the moist substrate is hotter than
the mushrooms, the warm water vapor from
the hot substrate condenses on the mush-
rooms and puts them at high risk to blotch
caused by Pseudomonas tolaasii. The so-
lution is to increase the velocity of air and
to reduce the humidity. Any change in air
temperature can compound the problem.
Cooling the air will cool the mushrooms
faster than the substrate, thus encourag-
ing condensation. Increasing the temper-
ature will result is greater evaporation.
With Agaricus, moderately dry air reduces
yield, but increases quality. The problems
of heating and condensation on the mush-
rooms is less with mushrooms growing on
fresh substrate, but self-heating can cause
the mycelium in the substrate to be killed.
Water vapor from the substrate is greatly
reduced in mushrooms grown from plastic
bags. In general, the mushrooms are grow-
ing from holes that are small compared to
the mushrooms. In addition warm water
vapor is more likely to move upward away
from the mushrooms and dilute in cooler
ambient air, before it passes any mush-
rooms. The carbon dioxide, unless well
heated, will tend to fall off a bag and also
be less of a problem. It should be empha-
sized that like most mushroom diseases,
Pseudomonas blotch is spread by poor
sanitation; moisture is necessary, but only
a contributing factor.
Specific specifications for directing air
from a poly tube plenum have been de-
scribed15. It was claimed that the air must
be shot from a central plenum through jets
towards the wall at such a velocity that it
reaches the wall, but does not bounce off of
it. It was also indicated that no air should
leave from the bottom of the plenum. No
other configuration is discussed except a
few words about using small holes with
flaps attached rather than jets. The primary
reason given for no openings on the bot-
tom of the plenum is that it will keep warm
air from rising. Yet there is no reason given
for wishing that the warm air will rise and
no indication of how stale air should leave
the room. Although nothing is said in the
text, arrows in a drawing show that with
the air forced to the walls from the plenum,
it will tend to return across the beds and
any air added from the bottom of the ple-
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78

num would tend to counter that flow across
the beds. Since he wanted the warm air to
go up and he describes no exit for the air,
we must assume that he plans to remove
the stale air in the center of the ceiling.
That suggests that the CO2 will gather in
the lower part of the room.
A prime purpose of ventilation, for most
living things, is the removal of CO2 so it
seems quite sensible to use measurements
of CO2 to control ventilation. Apparently,
that was first done in 197424. Sampling
ports were placed on the bottom of trays
and one infrared spectrophotometer used
for many sampling ports. Pneumatically
operated servo dampers were used to con-
trol air flow. The placement of the sam-
pling ports suggests that they wanted to
only know the minimum CO2 concentra-
tion in the immediate growing area. In
modern time with greater emphasis on
conservation of energy, a multi-speed fan
or several independently controlled fans,
as suggested by Harms8, would seem more
appropriate than the dampers.
An interesting experiment arranged
mushroom growing trays in a manner that
amounted to growing mushrooms in ven-
tilation plenums16. There were six “ple-
nums,” each five trays long. The production
of each tray was measured separately, but
there was no significant difference. Single
point measurements showed that the CO2
declined and the bed temperature increased
shortly before harvest. It appeared that the
mushroom caps were so crowded that they
held the CO2 and heat in the substrate. It
seems reasonable, although we could wish
for more data, to conclude that bed temper-
ature and not CO2 is the most useful guide
to ventilation requirements. It might also
suggest that higher mushroom yield per
unit of surface area is not the wisest goal.
If good ventilation is not possible, quality
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78
Ventilation and mushrooms 77
and the total yield per unit of substrate may
be compromised.
While dictionary definitions of ventila-
tion vary, it is common to think of it as those
early miners. Reid22 and Harms8 thought
ventilation is a process done to remove stale
or dangerous air. Yet, the author has been
unable to find a single paper on ventilation,
for mushroom cultivation, which discusses
the mean of removal or route of stale air
from mushroom houses. Most buildings
leak air, so that if air is simply added, the
excess will escape, somehow. The designs
discussed by Reid are the only designs
found that consider both the way air will
enter and leave the room (Fig. 10). In all
cases when we ventilate a building, we as-
sume the air in the building is not fresh and
the point where fresh air enters has a differ-
ent composition than much of the air in the
building. The fresh air entering is every bit
as likely to leak out as is the stale air, albeit
there may be more stale air and therefore
more adjacent surface for it to leak. There
is no point in blowing fresh air into the
Fig. 10. A drawing from Reid, Ventilation in
American dwellings. Note that he prescribed
both the air ingress and the egress.
78 R. H. Kurtzman, Jr.
building, if the air exiting the building has
the same composition. Rather we want the
exiting air to have a composition very simi-
lar to the most stale air in the room or better
contain more of the “staling” ingredients.
Thus it would seem that any useful experi-
ments on ventilation for mushrooms must
discuss the exit of the stale air.
It is interesting that while the author
has found no discussion of how air leaves
mushroom growing rooms, most if not
all articles discussing tunnel compost-
ing show air being blown in from under
the compost and exiting near the ceiling.
It should be noted that all phases of com-
posting are very different from mushroom
growing and this review is not intended to
consider composting.
In conclusion, there is a need for much
greater focus on what Reid told us 150
years ago: “that is a reasonable view of all
the ventilation may and may not be expect-
ed to accomplish”. That need is especially
great in mushroom growing facilities.
Literature Cited
1. ASHRAE. Air conditioning and refrigeration
chronology. http://www.ashrae.org
2. Architecture of the Capitol. http://www.aoc.gov
3. Barber, B. 1993. Biological aspects of air properties,
including product quality. Mushroom World
4(4): 33-44.
4. Brandes, M. 2006. Discovering South Korea with a
private guide. International Travel News
September 2006.
5. Butler, T. and G. Wuerthner. 2009. Plundering
Appalachia. Earth Aware Editions, San
Rafael, CA. 208 pp.
6. Folwell, W. W. 1926, 1969. A History of Minnesota,
Vol. 3. Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul.
605 pp.
7. Franklin, B. 1758. Cooling by Evaporation (letter to
John Lining). http://www.historycarper.com
8. Harms, R. G. 1985. Ventilation Handbook, Livestock
and Poultry. B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
and Food, Victoria, Canada. 171 pp.
9. Harris, E. 1858. An introductory outline on the progress
of improvement in Ventilation. http://books.
google.com [BiblioLife 2009, 236 pp. ISBN-
13: 9781103038237].
10. High Performance HVAC. www high-performance-
hvac.com
11. Important Millennium Archives. Hero history, Ben
Franklin. http://www.imahero.com
12. Kakkilaya, B. S. 2006. http://www.malariasite.com
13. Know Southern History. http://www.knowsouthernhis-
tory.net
14. Kurtzman, R. 2009. Mushrooms and the gas laws.
Botany & Mycology 2009 Abstracts.
Snowbird, Utah, U.S.A.
15. Lomax, K. M. 2001. Air duct design for mushroom
production. Mushroom News 49(1): 4-9.
16. Lomax, K. M., D. Beyer and T. Rhodes 1996. Air
flow effects on mushroom production. Pp.
233-240. Ed. D. J. Royse. Proceedings of
the Second International Conference on
Mushroom Biology & Mushroom Products,
University Park, Pennsylvania.
17. Mayeaux, Jr., E. J. A history of western medicine and
surgery.http://lib-sh.lsuhsc.edu
18. McPherson, M. J. 1993. A brief history of mine venti-
lation. http://web.mst.edu
19. Minnesota Historical Society. http://www.mnhs.org
20. Pennefeather, S. M. 2003. Mill City, a Visual History
of the Minneapolis Mill District. Minnesota
Historical Society, St. Paul. 143 pp.
21. Pennsylvania State University. www.personal.psu.edu
22. Reid, D. B. 1858. Ventilation in American dwellings.
http://books.google.com [BiblioLife 2009,
236 pp. ISBN-13: 9781103038237].
23. Roberts, K. and B. Caron. 2003. Advertising in the
mill city 1880-1930. Minnesota History 58:
308-319.
24. Schroeder, M. E. 1974. Automatic control of mushroom
ventilation after casing and through produc-
tion by sampling carbon dioxide. Mushroom
Science 9(1): 269-278.
25. University of Florida, Physics. http://www.phys.ufl.edu
26. Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org
27. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org
Micol. Apl. Int., 22(2), 2010, pp. 63-78